Here to Help
by Earendil Eldar
Summary: Jack's having a bit of a sad day remembering someone he cared for. Ianto knows just how to help, even if he doesn't realize it.


It was a beautiful summer afternoon in Cardiff, and Ianto decided to slip out of the tourist office for a short walk around the Bayfront. The vitamin D would do him good, he reckoned. Leaving off his jacket, Ianto stepped out into the light of day, only to find Jack right there, sitting on a bench, staring out over the bay.

Ianto locked the office behind him and went over to sit with Jack, who only registered his presence when Ianto spoke his name.

"Oh, Ianto. Hi."

"You alright, Jack? You seem a little… distant. Isn't that usually what roofs are for?"

Jack breathed out a little laugh. "Yeah. Didn't seem like a roof-top kinda day."

Ianto shifted a little closer. Sad didn't suit Jack at all. Moody, certainly, or angry, or frustrated, or regretful. Even hurt Ianto had seen enough of in Jack. But never _sad_.

"Anything I can do?" Ianto asked softly, though he doubted there was.

Jack shook his head. "No. It was a long, long time ago. I guess most people don't even know anymore. That may be the worst part of it." Jack seemed to be talking mostly to himself. Then Jack turned to look at Ianto. "You know, sometimes you remind me of him."

Part of Ianto didn't really want to know what former lover Jack thought of when they were together, but the bigger part of him wanted to know everything about Jack and wasn't really jealous of Jack's extensive past anyway.

"What was he like?" Ianto asked.

"One of the most incredible minds humanity will ever have produced," Jack said quietly. "It's funny. We never really had much together. Time or romance or anything. I loved him, though, in a very strange way. And I know I wasn't his type, but… he was very gentle in turning me down. I didn't find out until later what was happening… he didn't tell me how bad it was for him. I was calling to wish him a happy birthday. I didn't know he'd…."

"I'm sorry, Jack," Ianto whispered, reaching for his hand.

"It wasn't like that in my original timeline. He was a hero, a revered figured, for centuries. I still worry that I did something to alter that."

"You can't think like that, Jack. You know that."

"Yeah. It's just… I didn't know what they were doing to him. And I don't understand. No matter how long I live, no matter how much of it I've seen, I still just can't understand how people can do those things to one another. I don't understand how people can do and say things to hurt someone else because of love. To me, it's as incomprehensible as winding up in a place and time where people with blue eyes have to remember to put in coloured contact lenses before leaving the house so no one will know they're not really brown-eyed, and green-eyed people are bullied and told not to eat vegetables so their eyes can go back to their 'natural' color.

"Anyway…. Look, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be like this. It's just… kind of a tough day for me."

"I understand. It's really just that normal and accepted, where you're from?" Ianto asked, hoping to help shift the topic a bit.

"Yes. More than that, really, though, because it's not just 'accepted'. Who people love isn't something that's even thought about. It's just completely natural, a part of who that person is."

"It isn't always easy for you here, is it?"

"No," Jack said bluntly, looking distant again.

Beside him, Ianto clearly saw a man who wanted to be anywhere but the planet they were on at that moment. He knew, without a doubt, that if Jack's vortex manipulator was still able to… manipulate vortices… he'd be off to some brilliant, glittering world near Orion's left shoulder where there were all-night dance parties and one never woke up in the same bed twice. Ianto was well used to feeling small and insignificant in a universe much larger than most people ever thought about, but sometimes he wished he could be just a little more helpful when it mattered.

"Hey, Ianto? Wanna go for a walk?" Jack said suddenly.

"Well, actually, sir, that was my intention when I came out here."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Jack asked, with a small smile that was only half forced. He stood up and held a hand out to Ianto.

Ordinarily, Ianto balked heavily at touching in public, but maybe, he thought, this would be one way to be helpful when Jack really needed it.


End file.
